


Deep Blue Depths

by csealia



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Blood, Blood and Injury, Blue Paladin Lance (Voltron), Fever, Frostbite, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gay Keith (Voltron), Happy Ending, Hurt Keith (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, Hypothermia, Keith (Voltron) Whump, Keith/Lance (Voltron) Angst, Keith/Lance (Voltron) Fluff, Lance (Voltron) Whump, M/M, NOW WITH ART!!!, Red Paladin Keith (Voltron), Sea monster attack??, Sickfic, Sickfic turned deep sea recovery mission, Worried Lance (Voltron), bonding moment part 2, broganes, fluffy ending :3, keith just can't catch a break honestly, kissing at the end :D, klangst, mentions of other paladins - Freeform, soft klance, some blood but not gorey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-06
Updated: 2019-04-23
Packaged: 2019-06-22 20:53:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 11,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15590499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/csealia/pseuds/csealia
Summary: After Red gets damaged in a battle with the Galra, Keith crash lands on -or rather in- an ice encrusted water planet. With Red sinking fast, Keith is able to make it to the surface, but the freezing water pulls him back under. He's saved from the water by a certain blue paladin, but the effects of being in that freezing alien water take its toll on Keith. Lance must help his friend while also trying to locate the Red lion, for Keith's sake and Voltron's.-Read my first fic full of tons of cold-ass water, a sea monster, a bit of blood and finally some well deserved fluff at the end! I hope you enjoy!-also check out my little comic at the end!





	1. Encompassed in Cold

**Author's Note:**

> This is kinda like an introduction to the rest of the story so this is why it's so short. Updates will happen as I write them!

Keith shuttered awake as Red’s alarms pierced their way through his consciousness. His eyes opened slowly, but all of his senses returned to him at once. And boy did they all scream at him. He hurriedly looked around, and was quickly greeted by a Rover-sized hole just below Red’s eye, and just above Keith’s main control panel. 

The water was already up to his knees.

“Shit!” Keith exclaimed at the trauma of the extreme cold on his nerves. His lungs felt like they were retreating further into his body to avoid the cold. He pushed himself up, fighting the numbness running up his legs, and worked his way behind his chair, using the back as leverage to propel himself towards the door.

The water was up to his thighs.

He closed his helmet and exhaled a shaky breath, as his entire bottom half became engulfed in the unbearable cold. He had to move quickly now.  
He braced himself, ducked under the rising waters and out of Red’s mouth. 

He swam up towards the light, looking over his shoulder to take a look at Red, trying to assess the damage, only to realize just how deep the body of water was below him: and how fast Red was sinking into it. Keith looked down at his kicking feet, seeing nothing but blue, blue and deeper blue as he looked down to what was engulfing Red. He didn’t know which way was up for a slit second.

His body convulsed violently at the unwelcome polar-plunge, and his muscles started to cramp as the cold invaded not only the surface of his skin, but also down to the bone. He looks up and down frantically, trying to decide if he should swim down to Red, or up towards the ever-farther surface. But the marathon that stood between him and Red was almost just as far as the distance between Keith and fresh air. 

He cursed to himself and tried to control his breathing. His limbs felt so heavy, he thought that this alien ice might actually be freezing his insides. He paddled frantically, despite his limbs screaming at him to stop, to just give in. He refused to listen to it. As he broke the surface with a violent splash, he was smacked with a layer of frost on his visor as the sub zero temperature immediately froze any water dripping down Keith’s helmet.

There was literally nothing in sight except the endless ocean.

He paddled as long as he could, savoring the presumably nontoxic air for as long as he could, before he felt the icy claws yank him under the water. He closed his helmet just a few seconds too late, and the freezing water filled his helmet up to his lips. He felt like a frozen strip of duct tape was thrown over his mouth, and he couldn't feel the lower half of his face in just a few seconds. He panted roughly, sputtering any water that tried to drown him within his own helmet. This uneven breathing, mixed with the cold combined to create an overwhelming lightheaded feeling. He knew couldn’t barely keep himself conscious for much longer. He thought about his team, about Voltron. He thought about how it wouldn't be a set back if it was just him sinking into this bottomless ocean, he just had to take Red down with him didn’t he? Because of him, the universe would loose Voltron. As his heart rate slowed, and in finding eerie comfort in the cold, Keith faded into darkness. 

_

Lance didn’t know what the hell exactly happened. One second the team was yelling at each other over the comms like every other fight, then boom, a bright purple beam bisects the team. The comms were still busy with voices, but one was distinctly missing. Shiro was the first one to notice that Red was gone, but Allura was the one to enlighten the paladins that Red wasn't gone, just hit with a plasma beam so concentrated that it knocked her into the gravitational pull of the blue planet that, Lance guessed, was probably 10 miles away. 

Voltron had been called into action by a small village of Apogee people, a small alien race that lived on the orbiting debris of the blue planet planet rather than on the surface of it, enjoying the glacial winds from afar rather than head on. The Apogees had reported multiple sightings of a Galra war ship, and since they were recruits of the collation, Voltron came as soon as the team could manage. 

The planet, which felt more alive than just a bunch of water to Lance, was entirely made up of a seemingly bottomless ocean and a thin layer of ice sporadically covering deep blue, like a record-breakingly large case of dandruff. Lances stomach turned whenever his eyes met with the bottomless ocean, as the villagers had filled the paladins’ heads with the legends of the depths, or rather what laid in them. 

He tried to shake off the uneasiness, but it stuck in his head like a bad Earth song. To combat these nerves and partially to annoy his teammates he started humming the first bad, but comfortingly familiar song that came to his mind, Wannabe by the Spice Girls.


	2. Freezing Fever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I don't know how to name these Chapters.... but i literally posted the first chapter earlier today and already got a nice comment on it so why wait?? Here's the next chapter.

Keith woke up only the slightest bit warmer than when he had passed out. The metal floor didn’t help the fact either. His teeth chattered so viciously, he felt his entire head vibrate, but he was out of that water, and he appreciated that was an improvement.  
He knew he wasn't in that water anymore, which meant someone or something had ‘saved’ him. His muscles felt like they were simultaneously on fire but also frozen through to the bone, so defending himself from a violent captor wasn’t something he completely knew if he could pull off. 

The disorientation alerted him that he was in the air, but his slow exhales fogged up what little vision he still had. He slowly brought a silent, shaky hand up to the glass covering of his helmet and let his hand fall to the ground, using gravity to pop open the visor rather than using any more muscles than he absolutely needed to. What Keith guessed was around a cup of water flooded out of the small helmet, and only then did Keith realize just how close he was to drowning. 

He looked around, and a familiar chair and console set-up greeted him. The blue accents of the console and chair sent a welcomed wave of relief through Keith’s chest. He sighed as he once again brought up a shaky hand, and pushed against the chin of his helmet. It landed next to him, spinning on its center of mass like a top. His soaked, charcoal black hair gripped his face as he struggled to sit up. 

He pulled his abdomen up, doing an arms only push up as his legs seemed to still be in a state of paralysis. A small grunt of frustration escaped his lips, and alerted the blue Paladin. Lance turned around quickly, blue eyes happily meeting violet.

“Yo Mullet welcome back to the land of the living!” He half yelled. Keith smirked beside himself, but the pulsating beat of his muscles quickly returned to him to his smug facade.

Through clattering teeth he breathed out “Where’s Red?” He was propped up on his elbows now.

“Gee thanks Lance for prying me from the depths of an ice encrusted planet” Lance says, deepening his voice and straightening his back. He continued the gag, “no problem buddy it was nothing really I just-“

“Lance seriously...” Keith grumbled out. The concern in Keith’s voice surprised Lance. Lance signed but accepted the incomplete punchline, clicked Blue on auto-pilot and looked back at his friend.  
“She’s definitely still functional” his voice was notably more serious, “Blue’s sensors still have a lock on her, but she’s so deep in the water and this planet doesn't seem to have a solid core, so it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what her coordinates are.” He paused again, “that creature did literally chuck her towards the planet, so that combined with this weird gravity, Red must’ve been pretty beaten up... I didn’t know if you had...” Lance stopped again, not continuing this time. Keith was honestly surprised he was alive too. 

“But don't sweat it Mullet, we’ll find her, just don't go anywhere.” Lance said, his usual joking tone returning as he swiveled back around to face the console. 

Keith rolled onto his back and pushed himself into a sitting position.  
Lance gets a moment to really look at Keith, and sees just what that time in the biting cold did to the red Paladin. 

His skin, especially on his cheeks, had an unnatural bluish undertone rather than his usual light pink. His eyes weren’t fully open either, rather they were sunken and tired, and didn’t meet his. Lance admittedly didn’t know much about frostbite, but he did know that Keith looked a little out of it o say the least. For all he knew, this planets water could’ve had deadly properties, or-or it could’ve been colder than anything a human body should be able to be in contact with. 

He found himself overwhelmingly concerned for his... for Keith. Lance continued to stare over his shoulder, when finally Keith’s eyes slowly meet his, which snapped Lance back into reality. Lance swirled himself forward again. 

The ocean, the deep indigo curving slighting because of the altitude they were flying at as well and the smallish size of the planet, was indeed endless. There was no land in sight and Lance knew they must’ve made it around the planet at least once already, but there was no obvious sign of a giant red space lion under those waves. 

Fear tugs at his chest, and he doesn’t know if it’s his emotions or Blue’s. A coarse cough shattered his current fear and shifted it to dread. He whipped his head around again. Keith was hunched over in a “superhero landing” pose, down on one knee and leaning most of his weight on his closed fists. The cough was accompanied by a string of more deep ones, coming from deep in his lungs but the air was pushed out more quickly and roughly than any clear-your-throat kind of cough. Saliva and water dripped out of his gapping, gasping mouth and one of his hands slowly came up to clasp over it to silence a further onslaught of gags. 

Keith knew Lance was looking at him, but a mixture of discomfort and dismissiveness kept him from meeting his glance. Keith’s knee fell back to the floor to sit next to he other and he leaned back against the wall of the lion, throat burning but helplessly breathless. 

Lance looked back at the ‘scenery’ and made a decision to land—or rather drop down to the surface of the water— just until the console could pinpoint an exact location on Red. He slowly drew the controls towards his chest and the lion dipped down ever-so slightly, loosing altitude at a slow and masterful speed. The blue lion met the ice water with an uneventful and minimal splash. 

The force of the landing was almost nonexistent, but the shift in gravity caused Keith to double over from his supposedly unstable position on his hands and knees. He landed on his side, his back to Lance, with a plastic clap as his armor slammed the metal floor. 

His hair is sprawled around his head like a stagnant body of water, the long hair that usually covered the nape of his neck now spilled out and over the collar of his armor. His bangs also covered his—Lance assumed they were still open—eyes. The red paladin didn’t stir say for the now sporadic but fervent tremors caused by the remaining cold in his joints and limbs. After a few seconds, the fact Keith hadn’t made an effort to get up, made Lances stomach twist.

“Hey buddy, you okay over there?” He asked meekly, trying to break the silence. With Blue safely in the water and nothing of note on the sensors, Lance stood up and started over to his friend. 

“-s fine.” Keith breathed out, and just to drive his point home, Keith sluggishly lifted a thumbs up above his head, letting the hand fall after he assumed the message was received. 

He groggily rolled himself back onto his knees, water still dripping from his long hair and his heaving mouth. Keith used the ridged walls of the lion to get himself upright, and started to push himself onto his feet. Lance gets a look at his face again. His violet eyes are cupped by those deep under eye bags, and despite his pale skin clearly still in shock from the cold, sweat seemingly dripped down his brow. But that’s all Lance had time to take not of before things went to shit again. 

Keith’s legs shuttered for a second but he willed them to stop with considerable effort. He took a step, only for the joint to betray him and give out underneath his shifting weight. He didn’t even seem to try to catch himself. Lance, half expecting this, is under him like a flash, reaching Keith just in time to catch his head and shoulders, before they slammed into the floor. 

“Keith?!” Lance yelped. The red paladin didn’t move a muscle. Lance, with shaking hands, flips over the unconscious Paladin. He gently brushed the ebony hair out of the boys face. Lance’s heart fluttered as he looked down at Keith. He noted beside himself that even when this guy was unconscious and sickly, his sharp and stoic features were so striking and…gorgeous. His mouth hung slightly open, and the bluish-pink color of his lips-

Not now, bi thoughts, your friend is freezing and unconscious.

Lance put a hand on his forehead, his fingertips being met with radiating heat. Even through the gloves of his armor he feels intense fever. The panic quickly bubbled over and thoughts of what it would feel like to return to the Castle of Lions alone… 

He quickly snapped himself out of his trance and brings his ear to the unconscious boy’s agape mouth. A slow and light exhale followed by a raspy inhale make Lance sigh with both relief and trepidation. He took a moment to compose himself before slipping his arms underneath Keith.  
“You owe me big time after we get back to the castle, Mullet."


	3. Thaw My Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay so the good news is, Keith wakes up. Bad news is, he's still feverish and delusional from the hypothermia. Fun!

Lance huffed out as he lifted Keith up bridal style. Keith was a hell of a lot lighter than he looked, so he didn’t need strain himself. Keith was awkwardly limp in his arms, so totally only to make Keith more comfortable, Lance hiked Keith up, his wet mop of a head now rested against his shoulder.

Lance walked over to the other side of the lion and kicked the bench out from its folded position to act as a make-shift bed. Lance squatted down and let Keith’s limp body slip out from his grasp and onto the hard surface. He deeply wished he was something more comfortable to put him on. 

Lance brushed Keith’s hair out of his face again, and now he could discern that the droplets running down his brow were indeed sweat and not just the continuous drops from his hair. Lance’s heart lurched when he looked at Keith’s expression; brows contorted in a mixture of discomfort and pain. He was still shaking.

From what little knew Lance knew about hyperthermia, you shouldn't stay in damp clothes, or risk rapid body heat loss and eventual permeant night-night. Keith was still considerably soaked from his little dip in the water, and Lance did have a change of clothes in the back of the console, so, as a good teammate and a concerned friend, shouldn't he…?

He didn’t think too long about it, siding with his rational mind rather than the teenage boy voice in the back of his head. He slipped Keith’s armor off first, starting with the chest-plate and moving his way down, deciding to leave his bayard at his side. Left only in his protective dark gray under armor, Keith seemed to somehow find comfort in the metal slab, his tremors lessoning considerably and his face softening. 

Lance stood and shuffled over to his console. He kneeled down in front of the chair, reaching back behind it, and grabbing the entire togo Lance-ensemble; his signature army green jacket, a pair of jeans and a cotton shirt. Lance made an executive decision that he would leave the jeans for when Keith woke up. 

He went back to Keith and lifted the gray mesh shirt up to his chin, and Lance exercised all of his will power not to stare down at the chiseled chest that threatened to blind him. He just had to steal a glance though. The pale-blue color had indeed spread throughout his body, but thats not what bewildered Lance. 

Keith’s chest was riddled with scars of every size, big, small and even some that looked to be as old as he was. There were raised pink scars, indented blush craters and even a obviously fresh slash wound on his shoulder. Lance couldn't help but wonder which of these he’d gotten from being the Red Paladin and which he’d gotten just being Keith. 

Lance channeled his focus again, and went back to being concerned about Keith. He slid a genial hand under Keith’s head and lifted it slightly, just to scoop up all of his unruly hair. It slid out from under him with ease, the black tendrils a hell of a lot softer than Lance expected them to be. 

He began to gingerly twist it. A considerable amount of water poured onto the floor, and to Lance’s utter shock and amusement, a waft of lavender and mint hit his nostrils. So he had been using the stress-relief shampoo that Lance had given him.

After Lance was satisfied, he tucked the jumble back under Keith’s nape. Now markedly dryer, Lance slipped the soft white and blue shirt over Keith’s head. He was beginning to pull Keith’s other arm through the sleeve when Keith tore his hand out of Lance’s grip, and grabbed onto the side of the bench. He pushed himself up, but not easily. He grunted weakly but managed to get himself upright. He looked at Lance through lidded eyes, looking at his bare chest then back at Lance. 

Keith let out a groggy chuckle, voice slightly higher than usual, “Why am I wearing your shirt? Or… half of it”

He let out a little gasp and brought one of his hands over his mouth in an exaggerated manner.

“Did we…?” He asked in a half whisper, traces of a mischievous smile tugging at the edge of his lips. A light red flush of color rose to his cheeks, a cold-sweat still licking the sides of his face. 

Heat rose up to Lance’s, cheeks and ears. “No- Oh God no Keith- you were- you're hypothermic…” He paused and stood up, giving his eyes a breather before turning back around. Keith had finished putting on the shirt, but had decided he didn’t want to wear pants anymore, opting for the less constricting option of, well, his boxers. He sat there, unbothered and exposed, like this was just another regular interaction. 

“What?” Keith inquired innocently, raising his voice before continuing, “they were wet so they’re off now. Sound logic over here!” 

This is so not sound logic. Lance didn’t even look up, electing to remain silent and just grab the quiznaking jeans. He threw them over to Keith and finally met his eyes again, a wave of heat finding its way up his face. Keith had put on his jacket. So now, as he slipped on the jeans without a care in the world, Keith was fully Lance-ified.

There was no straight explanation for this if the team video called them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The action will start soon don't worry, in the meantime some fluffy klance never hurt anyone :D


	4. Deeper yet Deeper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith's delirium is over! Or is it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the little wait. I think you'll like this one -- drama comes next chapter to stay tooned!

It was quiet in the Blue lion for at least an hour after Keith’s little fever-induced strip tease, and Lance was happy to have time to think in peace, even if it took all of his will power just to keep looking forward. 

Lance didn’t look at Keith again to know he was still suffering from the symptoms of hyperthermia. He could hear his friend’s teeth chattering and his body stirring in discomfort despite the new dry clothes. Lance was way out of his element with this; he barley knew anything about hypothermia. What if giving him dry clothes too soon had put him into heat shock, or-or what if-

Keith stirred on the metal bench, sliding his legs over the side and planting his bare feet on the floor with a audible plap. Lance couldn't help but turn. Oh thank god, he looked less sickly now, but still clearly flushed and clammy, which was definitely from the fever.

Keith looked like the delirium had diminished and now he just looked plain uncomfortable. Lance wondered if it was because he was sweating so steadily, or if it was because he finally was cognizant enough to realize he was wearing Lance’s clothes. His black bangs clung to his sweaty temples. Lance caught himself before he could stare too long again.

“Hey man, you feeling any better?” Lance asked hesitantly. Keith steadied himself on the bench with both hands, seemingly ready to collapse again. A drop of sweat dripped from his slender nose and onto the cockpit floor. The silence made Lance question if Keith had even heard him. 

“So uh…” Lance began, “do you think you feel up to calling Red? Blue still is having trouble pinpointing her…”

“The thing that busted her has her.” Keith huffed out, literally.

“The thing…?” Lance trailed off, the stories that the Apogee people had told the paladins rushed into Lance’s minds-eye. “What thing?” He blurted out, a lot more panicked than he meant to give away.

Keith inhaled to continue speaking but a wheezing, guttural cough forced its way passed his protests to keep in tamed. 

His back arched and his elbows parked themselves on his knees, his hands clenched into fists. It was blatant that Keith had been trying to keep the coughing at bay, but his strength wavered and that was telling. Keith grunted, clearly in annoyance.

“Just-uh-try to talk in as little words as possible.”

Very helpful Lance, but at that time he was too freaked out to care. What thing was he talking about?

Keith let out one last bout of coughs before he finally could talk uninterrupted. “Monster-very-real.” He managed, each word sending a cheese-grader down his vocal cords.

Lances heart felt like it was going to crack through his ribcage. Obviously Voltron has encountered monsters before, but the possibility of a water beast made his head spin. Space was somewhere the paladins had proven to be their domain, water wasn’t where they belonged—wasn’t where they should have to be. Water spelled all sorts of problems. Not to mention without the red lion, Voltron couldn’t form to take on this mystery monster.

Keith cut off Lance’s train of thought with a sharp inhale, bringing both hands over his ears. “Fuck!” Keith mumbled, back now arched so his elbows rested on his knees. His hands were over his ears.

“She’s screaming- to save-her...” Keith grunted, and cleared his throat with a thundering cough, ”We need to dive down.”

“Uh-Keith-Buddy- dont’cha think we should head back to the team and regroup? Coran can give you a check up and Shiro might have a plan on how we could-” Lance couldn’t even continue even if he wanted to, as Keith pushed passed him and sat in the small open space on the paladins seat, directly in Lance’s lap. He latched his hands on top of Lance’s, securing both to the controls, and pushed the sticks forward. The blue lion, despite a purr of hesitation, took a nose dive.

He could only smell Keith. Nothing else but the musky smell of sweat and lavender shampoo.

“K-Keith! Stop! We need to make a plan!”

“Here’s the plan; we kill this thing and get my lion back.” His voice was so raspy it hurt Lance to even hear.

“Keith you just said it sunk your lion! We need a better plan than that!”

“Fine.” He took a deep breath and scowled as a wave of pain shot up his throat. He refused to let himself cough again. “As we get deeper, the censors on Red should easily get her exact location. Once we find her, you use Blue’s ice to plug the hole just below her eye. Once she’s patched, I get my armor back on and make a break for her. If that thing gets in the way of any of these steps, we fucking kill it before it stabs your lion too and we both drown? Got it?” he finally finished before he ran out of air completely. He took a deep inhale to catch his breath and turned to look back at Lance for an answer.

Keith's eyes were definitely clearer, but Lance still didn’t know for sure if he was hallucinating or not. He found comfort in the fact that this whole thing might be a fabrication of Keith’s mind. Whatever the case, it is true that they would most likely find Red faster if they dived deeper, so why not just humor a sick friend?

“Aye-aye captain.” Lance chirped, his nerves almost audible. “Let’s kill us a kraken.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Tell me what you thought, even if you didnt like it! I want to become a better writer! 
> 
> EDIT: Art coming soon on my tumblr! https://csealia.tumblr.com !


	5. Boiling Point

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The calm before the storm :)

It only took a few minutes for the water around Blue to become completely void of light, save for her glowing yellow eyes. But even the yellow light made Lance’s stomach twist. He had a sneaking suspicion that Keith wasn't lying, but for his sanity’s sake, he continued to act like nothing was waiting for them just out of the reach of the yellow glow. 

Keith hadn't moved since the start of their decent, his smaller frame fitting almost perfectly on Lance’s lap and his hands still forcibly sandwiching the Blue paladin’s hands to the controls. The Red paladin was panting like he’d just run a marathon. He was emanating heat, literally, and Lance was starting to think about dehydration being the next thing to tell Coran about once they got Keith into a healing pod. This was one relentless fever.  
__

Keith knew that Red was in trouble, or at least more so than she was when she was sinking. He could hear her begging for release, her low growl throbbing against his temples and echoing persistently through his thoughts. 

A drop of sweat slid down his cheek and fell onto the collar of his—or rather Lance’s—jacket. He was really wearing his clothes wasn't he? That of all things was what the fever had let him realize. And now he was sitting on his goddamn lap like a pet Chihuahua. What the hell was he doing? What part of this plan was sound? As if to answer him, Red reiterated just how urgent her situation was, by turning her low growls into a full on, ear-piercing roar. 

The cockpit shook and both Blue and Keith felt the strain of their partner. And Lance had definitely felt the tremor as well. He looked like he was finally comprehending that there might actually be a major problem here. 

“Now do you get it?” Keith wheezed out, “She’s in pain Lance. That thing has her, or she would've come to meet is half way.”

“Keith we’ll get her back topside soon don't worry. I’m sure a little yarn-ball looking fish got her attention and she’s stuck down there because of the hole. We’ll follow your plan and get out the fuck out of this creepy-ass abyss.”

“You really need to get serious about this Lance. If you aren't ready for it, it will sink Blue just like it did Red.”

“Yeah yeah Mullet, worry about yourself getting to your lion. You're gonna need to move fast so you don't freeze again.”

“Or get eaten by a giant fucking alien squid.” Keith mumbled. 

Lance sighed and leaned to the side to see passed Keith and into the nothingness. And for a good 10 minutes the nothingness was proving Lance’s point, but then movement caught his eye. The inky blackness greeted him but so did something else. Something somehow a shade darker than the darkness before him, and its figure was coming more and more into view. Keith’s entire body tensed and his grip on Lance’s hands tightened as they drew closer. Without being asked, Blue shut off her yellow lights and shifted to night-vision mode. It was only then did the paladins see what they were truly up against.

It was at least three times the size of Blue. The closest thing Lance could relate it to was a squid, but that didn’t really cover all of the messed-up that made up this creature. It looked like a squid that was thrown into a vat of toxic waste, injected with steroids and dipped in knives just to add some character. 

It had at least ten tentacles, each studded with thousands of razor sharp blades, the skin underneath a deep oil-slick black. It looked straight out of Stephen King’s nightmares. The thing looked like an aquatic slenderman. Like batman had outfitted a spider with its very own custom made waterproof batsuit. 

Okay Lance enough with the analogies. There was more pressing matters at hand; the monster that sunk Red was very real and Keith was already slipping his armor back on. He latched his bayard to his side and made his wobbly way over to the doors of the cockpit.

Shit.


	6. Deep Dark Tomb

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All hell breaks loose for my poor boys.

The ocean itself didn’t frighten Lance, in fact he found it beautifully mysterious. The ocean was like a wild animal, extremely deadly but only when mistreated. Lance respected it for its eternal majesty and live giving prowess. What terrified him was the endlessness. No one knew how deep the ocean went, or what laid undiscovered just a few hundred feet below the deepest reaching subs. Just endless blue. No relief or comfort, just cold and never ending blue. 

Now his fears were quickly being materialized just a few meters away from him, and it wasn’t pretty. 

From what Lance could tell, the thing hadn't noticed the Blue lion yet, which was obviously good. The downside was that the thing keeping its attention was the Red lion. It looked like a spoiled kid that finally got that one toy it had been begging for for days. It wrapped a thick chunk of at least five out of its ten limbs, grasping it so close it was like its life depended on keeping the poor kitty in its grasp. The knives were encased all around Red, and even the slightest movement would surely end in another Rover-sized hole in her cockpit, which would force the paladins to reevaluate their plan. 

Keith had already slipped on all of his armor, the soaked underarmor still dripping with the stubborn cold water. He really didn’t give a single shit at this point. He felt a tugging in his chest, an almost paternal need to relieve his best friend’s pain. He needed to save her. Needed to like he needed to breath. 

“Don’t you think you should let me take the dive this time?”

“Don’t be stupid, Blue won’t listen to me and Red certainly won’t listen to you.” Keith muttered before sliding his helmet over his head. His visor fogged up almost instantly.

“I just really don't like our odds here buddy; we know nothing about this thing! What am I even supposed to do to distract it? Blink Blue’s lights at it??”  
“Well first off, stick to the plan. If anything goes wrong, I’ll buy you some time while you tow Red out of here. At least if you get Red you can just find a new red paladin.” Keith said, nonchalantly, like it was as simple as changing a lightbulb. Just getting a replacement. Just the thought made Lance’s heart ache.

Just stick to the plan and it won’t come to that Lance.

Keith made his way down to Blue’s mouth and braced himself for the inevitable rush of familiar cold while Lance tried to line up Blue for the best shot. He would probably only get one shot before that ink stain would notice Blue, and most likely lock its attention on her instead. This shot was nothing for the sharpshooter. 

“Ready when you are Lance.” Keith’s voice crackled through the comms. 

One shot. He lined up Blue and charged up her tail. He closed his eyes and let a deep, fresh breath wash over him, rejuvenating the tired nerves. He had this in the bag. It wasn't like Voltron, defender of the universe was on the line here. Oh wait. It was. This shot meant everything; it was a matter of life or death. 

Welp, here comes the hyperventilating. 

Chill the fuck out Lance this is fine. Voltron needs you—Keith needs you. You’re fine. Just don’t fucking miss. 

He took another intoxicatingly deep breath and cracked his knuckles. He fired one short beam, a small burst of blue energy quickly making its way towards its moving target. Time slowed as he turned to continue the plan.

He slammed his fist onto the hatch-opener and watched as Keith was propelled in front of Blue, and fiercely began pattling towards this lion. He looked calm, but his heavy breathing over the comms hinted otherwise. He was scared too. 

The thing had definitely noticed Lance, because its one yellow eye locked onto the Blue lion meer milliseconds after Lance pulled the trigger. It felt like he was in some high school stage and a singular spotlight beamed on him, keeping him paralyzed in place with fear. It moved slowly, which was about the only thing Lance could think about as an upside to this thing. It’s massive size worked against it, as the water acted more resistant the faster that the kraken tried to move, but that didn’t stop it from trying.

Blue maneuvered like she was born in the water. She was graceful and precise, only using her beams to draw its attention even more. 

Tentacle after tentacle came flying out of the darkness at Lance, and with inches to spare, Lance dodged them all. The commotion was doing what they’d planned, as the number of tentacles wrapped around Red were slowly dwindling, but the mess of bubbles and energy beams made Lance loose sight of the Red Paladin. 

“FUCK.” A voice bellowed into Lance’s ear. 

Oh there he was. 

Lance managed to maneuver both Blue and the creature just enough for him to steal a glance down at Red. The beast only had a singular tentacle on her now, but it was forced down her throat like a fucked up cpr method. That’s why she was screaming. The thing had managed to break her jaw, and start to excavate down her throat. The thought made Lance gag. 

Then he caught why Keith had cursed. With the hole in her muzzle filled with ice, and the tentacle blocking his way to the cockpit, Keith had no way to get to piloting Red out of here. He was stuck in open water, without so much as his lion’s mouth to shield him. 

Without missing a beat, Keith took his blade out from his belt and materialized its full form. “Lance get ready to fucking bolt. Don’t look back until you're at the surface.”

“Keith just… fine. But you better fucking meet me up there.”

Keith let out what Lance guessed was a laugh. I sounded more like an exhausted exhale.

“Wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Keith raised his blade up behind him and brought it down with all the force his slowly freezing muscles could muster, which was surprisingly hard. The purple blade sliced through the tree trunk of a limb like it was butter, flesh and bone tearing like paper. The creature retracted its remaining limbs and the amputated digit slowly dislodged itself from Red with a little extra effort from Keith. A ploom of dark green blood filled the waters around Keith and the Red Lion and a thundering screech emanated from deep within the creature, and seemed to reverberate despite there being nothing around them for the sound to bounce off of. Keith grunted in pain over the comms, a sharper cry than any he’d heard from him, but it was almost completely drowned out by the screech. 

One noise stood out through the scream, the unmistakable clank of metal hitting metal. Then it hit him, literally. The knife-like blades that the beast bared on ever arm fired out of its skin like thousands of mini-porcupine quills. At least three hit Blue, only one managed to puncture her casing, sending the darkness that laid all around him, to start to encase him.


	7. Glacial Pace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

>  Lance was so sure that this was it, however anticlimactic. He’d become the pilot of a blue space lion just to what? Die via drowning? What a boring way to go.

The water was rushing in at a sluggish rate, but the cold was what he knew would do him in. He closed his visor and tried to control his breathing. It was only up to his ankles, but the shock that it sent up his spine was like someone had just stabbed his foot. He completely understood why Keith contacted hyperthermia so quickly. This shit was FRIGID.  
   
The monster continued to flail around, strategically only using one tentacle at a time to swat at Blue, keeping the injured one and all of the unused ones safe under its pitch-black sheet of a body. The razor sharp quills on each tentacle moved like they each had a mind of their own.  
   
Red was still down. Her eyes were empty and her jaw was hanging on by only a few cables, but Lance knew Keith was in there, he had to be.  
   
As if summoned, two new yellow beams exploded to life beneath the monster, and Red began to struggle to get her footing. Not surprisingly, having her jaw hang between her two front legs wasn't exactly helping the effort. But she struggled through it, and also managed to keep her endeavor silent enough as to not alert the beast.  
   
Lance felt the water lick up his calves, but refused to take his eyes off of the monster. If he did, he would surely get porcupined again, and then it would be Keith’s turn to search and rescue, if Red was even operational. He needed to see every movement, every change in body posture, in order to anticipate where the next attack would come from.  
   
Red sat on the gray sand and tested out her mobility with the hanging jaw; still pretty good, just had to adjust for the new shift in weight. Keith was struggling. He panted in his helmet, so much that it completely obscured his vision, but Red guided him. He felt himself floating over to the pilots chair and finding his place above it. Then the console came to life, just like all of the times before, and Keith wanted to fucking hug her. He would've hugged the console if not for the giant monster right in front of them, and the pain flaring in his chest.   
   
He scanned the console with what little vision he did have and noticed a bright blue button he hadn't seen before. Had it been there all along? Couldn’t have. Keith knew Red like the back of his hand. If she had a random button that he didn’t know the purpose of, he would've absolutely tried it out by now. Red assured him to press it, so he did. The lights in the cockpit flashed on and the doors behind the pilots chair creeped open just a little. Like a vacuum had been switched on, a rush of bubbles and dark sand rushed passed Keith, even little snail-looking creatures were pulled from their suction cups and thrown out of Red’s gaping mouth.  
   
The water quickly began to recede and Keith found himself lowered comfortably into his chair. He put his hands on the controls and tested their movement. As smooth as they’d ever been. God he loved this fucking lion.

Adrenaline pulsed through Keith’s veins.  
   
He yanked back the controls and Red sprang up in utter silence, as graceful as she could with the hanging hunk of metal attached to her face. She made her way over behind the monster. Lance was doing…great actually. His lion effortlessly maneuvered through the water like she was meant to be a subaquatic lion rather than a space one. Her tail flicked to one side and the other, using the momentum to dodge close range tentacle attacks like they were nothing.

But she was sloppier than when she began, and those close range dodges were becoming a little too close for comfort. Keith scanned her over, noticing the three quills sticking out of her casing. One had definitely punctured her cockpit. Fuck. Now the tables had turned and Lance was the one slowly sinking, probably freezing. Fucking fantastic. They needed to finish this thing off and quickly. He turned his comms back on.  
   
“Lance, you alright?!” Keith barked, a little more frantic than Lance expected.  
   
“Oh thank quiznak you're up… We’re just peachy over here, but a little urgency could be appropriate. You ready to kill this thing?”  
   
“Bet your ass I am.”  
   
Lance couldn't help but laugh. He stopped Blue in her tracks and she floated freely to the bottom, her claws tearing through the coarse gray sand and sending mushroom clouds of turned up sediment from each paw. Lance pulled out his bayard and slipped it into the console. The giant blue shoulder gun materialized on Blue, and she quickly took aim.

The monster wavered, seemingly mesmerized by the new attachment, and reached a cautious yet curious tentacle out to grab the gun.  
   
Behind the creature, Keith was following Lance’s lead, placing his bayard in the activation panel and smirking as the three pronged energy gun materialized on Red’s back. He powered it up, and planted Red’s legs firmly into the sand.  
   
“Ready?” Keith asked eagerly. The pitch of his voice was...different. Lower?   
   
“You know it, Mullet.”  
   
Both paladins turned their bayards in unison, firing onto the monster with precision that even bewildered their paladins. They wanted to end this thing as much as their pilots did apparently. Both beams hit each other perfectly, meeting in the middle of the creature. The beams swelled together and conjugated onto each other, becoming a giant mass of pure energy. The ball exploded in a blinding flash, tearing into the aquatic slenderman. Its remaining nine tentacles stood straight out of it’s body, the quills on each either falling unceremoniously to the ground or shooting out like a bazooka into the empty water around it. It crumbled over, folding in on itself as bursts of the dark green blood pushed itself out from all sides. When it finally stopped moving, it looked like a folded black shirt on a gray comforter.  
   
“Ha ha! Yes!” Lance announced, so loud it made Keith wince.  
   
“Thanks Lance…” Keith began, timidly, “Red thanks you too.”  
   
“Tell her it was no problem m’lady.” Lance said but then shuttered violently. He wished he could’ve been more happy, but the water was up to his waist now and that was all kinds of uncomfortable. Both lions dematerialized their weapons and assessed one another. Red jetted over the beast and over to Blue, letting her flailing jaw hit against her chest when she stopped.  
   
“I gotta pull it out, but when I do you need to freeze the hole immediately or you're both fucked.”  
   
“Got it…” Lance muttered through chattering teeth, “Do it.”  
   
Red leaned under Lance’s line of sight and lifted her paw up to the quill, taking careful precision as Keith moved the paw closer and closer, until it was in between her claws. He slowly closed the claws, like a giant pair of cat tweezers. He pulled quickly, and the spike came out no problem, but the rush of water was not what Lance was expecting. Obviously he expected water, but not like this. A stream of cold knocked him in the side and he almost fell out of his chair. He felt pins and needles down every limb. He steadied himself back into his chair and lined up Blue’s tail to aim at herself. She complied and fired a longer beam of ice, not knowing exactly where he was aiming. The water stopped just before it reached his chin.  
   
Red floated back up into Lance’s line of sight and cast the quill to the side, where it promptly settled next to the creature. Then a bright blue button, a different shade than the console, caught his eye. He pressed it without hesitation. The water drained almost as fast as it had flooded in, leaving Lance’s nerves in a state of shock, but the adrenaline kept him from feeling it. He felt all of the pent up doubt and anxiety flood out of him with the water.  
   
“Let’s get the fuck out of here and call the team for a pick up, shall we?” Lance inquired, smile audible in his voice.  
   
“Fuck yes.” Keith panted. He sounded relived, but something was different. Something was wrong.

Keith pushed the controls up, and Red slowly pushed off the gray sand and started the slow ascent. Blue tagged behind, close.

He muted his comms so if he screamed, he wouldn't alert Lance.

“Hey Keith?”

Keith flipped on the autopilot, turned on the mirror cam and adjusted awkwardly in his seat trying to painlessly look his wound.

“Keeeeeeeiith?”

The quill had grazed him, thankfully, but it had still done some damage. He gently lifted his left arm up, and yep there it was, a fucking hole in his chestplate. It wasn’t big but it wasn’t very small either. About 5 inches in length but deep, so deep Keith swore he could see a rib. He really couldn’t catch a break today huh? He looked around himself and he noticed the new color of the floor around him. He listened as the dense blood dropped onto the wet metal floor, only to quickly disperse along the thin remaining lines of water that covered the floor. It spread from there to the edge of the water’s reach, merging with other drops to form an opaque, deep red stain on the metal floor. 

“Earth to Keith! You in there?” Lance’s voice boomed.

He put his arm down faster than he should've, and a fresh gush of blood spilling down his white armor and onto the floor like one of those old fashion water pumps. He sighed and weighed his options. There weren't many that ended well if he kept this secret to himself.

“I’m hit.” Keith said, nonchalantly.

The fact that Keith hadn’t even tried to act like he was fine sent red flags in Lance’s head.

Abruptly Lance noticed a shiny needle, a quill in the back of Red’s throat. It hadn't punctured anything important, in fact it seemed like Red didn’t even know it was there, but it did seem to have hit something and pinned it there. With a quick zoom of Blue’s cam, he easily identified the fabric. A scrap of the gray underarmor flapped uselessly in the rushing water around it.

Fucking of course out of all of the open ocean a quill had to hit Keith. This dude had the entire universe wanting to kill him.

“Where?” Lance responded as calmly as possible.

“Left side. Grazed my chest. Nothing major.” That was the understatement of the year.

“Okay hold on. I’m coming over.” Lance said without hesitation.

“Wh- Coming over? What the fuck-“

“I’m coming over to Red so I can patch you up before you bleed out, you dumbass.”

Another exhausted exhale, most likely a laugh, sent a wave of anguish through Lance.

“The door is wide open.” Keith joked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey I'm kinda just posting a rough version of this chapter because I don't know when exactly I'll finish it, and I hate to keep you guys waiting. So I hope you enjoyed :D


	8. Stepping On Thin Ice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance to the rescue!

Lance somehow managed to line up Blue with Red, and as the lions continued to slowly ascend, Lance shot a thick, sturdy line over to Red. It easily caught on her top jaw and he latched himself in.

Don’t worry it’s only like a deadly zip line, it’ll be fine — fun even.

It was not fun.

The lions were ascending slowly, but the weight of the rushing water on top of Lance was almost unbearable. His shoulders screamed at him, and his lower back twinged, but he walked to the edge of Blue’s mouth and looked at the distance. About six feet give or take. He looked down without thinking, and surprise surprise it was that deep blue nothingness that tied a knot in his stomach. 

The rope was taught, so it was a remotely easy ride, just the few seconds of absolute terror. He made it to the end of the line, grabbed onto Red’s fang and swung himself into Red’s throat. The cockpit doors slid open half way, and Lance had to elbow it open the rest of the way. Admittedly, Lance had only been in the Red lion like two times but he was pretty sure that the floors weren't supposed to be red. 

He saw Keith was still in the pilots chair facing away from him, but the steady drip drip drip of liquid is what made him move faster. He struggled to keep traction under his boots, but managed to slide his way over to Keith’s chair. He grabbed the back suddenly, in order to catch himself from falling, but he seemingly startled Keith. The dark haired boy’s body tensed, and a small squeak escaped his lips as the wrong muscles flexed. Lance swung himself to the side of Keith and knelt down, his knees sliding in the fresh blood closest to Keith’s chair. 

Keith didn’t seem comfortable at all to say the least. His face was blank, clammy and his eyes were unfocused and lidded. His breathing was shallow, but it was steady, and Lance thanked whatever god there was that he wasn't unconscious again. Lance couldn't decide if he looked better than when he only had a fever. His right hand was clamped onto the side of his chair, keeping him from sliding off of the chair, and his left hand was loosely applying pressure to the hole in his armor. The blood wasn't gushing anymore, it was more of a trickle, but Lance was sure that if Keith moved the wrong way that the dam would break and he would start bleeding out all over again. So even though neither one of them were going to enjoy what happened next, Lance knew he had to work fast. 

“So when were you going to tell me it was this bad?” 

“It’s fine.” Keith said quickly, “just get some bandages…”

“Bandages aren't going to stop you from bleeding out with a wound like that Keith.”

Lance drew his bayard and materialized his rifle.

Keith’s eyes whipped to the weapon. “The fuck are you going to do with that?” He quickly breathed out.

“I’m gonna power it up but not fire… it gets like, super hot when it powers up.” Lance announced sedately.

A beat passed before Keith gulped and managed to speak again. “Great.” he said with fane excitement.

“Look if you have to hold onto something,” Lance hesitated before holding out his hand, “it’s not gonna be a fun time.”

Keith looked almost offended at the hand, but it melted into something like appreciation. He took Lance’s hand, already squeezing tight from the pain of just breathing.

Lance squeezed the trigger but not all of the way, letting a dim light find it’s way down the rifle. He could feel the heat on his face and he was a foot away. He looked at Keith and the Red Paladin nodded. Lance brought the barrel of the gun down sternly on Keith’s side, knowing that if he didn’t do it hard enough, it wouldn’t actually be affective. 

Keith obviously didn’t enjoy the process. He tried to not yell, he really really tried, but Lance could tell by how tight Keith squeezed his hand that he was in agony. He yelled out like a wounded wolf, sharp and drawn out. Lance held his hand back, despite the numbness that was consuming his arm due to lack of circulation. Every muscle writhed in retaliation to the pain, and one of his legs kicked reflexively against the console.

It was searing hot, but too hot for his nerves, so it felt extraordinarily, exceedingly cold. And that cold throbbed like a foreign pulse, utterly ripping through his insides and fighting against the rhythm of his own heart. He didn’t know if he’d actually screamed, just felt a build up of acute pain then a flush of sweat throughout his entire body. White dots overran his vision. His teeth seemed to crack under the strain of his jaw. The canines of his teeth extended ever so slightly and a low growl escaped from the clasped teeth. Lance felt sharpened fingernails and dig into his hand. Small crescents punctured into his skin, and small droplets of blood threatened to overflow over the parted skin. Lance barely felt it.

Keith had never felt pain like it; he’d broken bones, been stabbed and even once when he was still in the garrison, some dick had slammed his hand in a shuttle door. All of those seemed like paper cuts compared to this pain. 

Once Lance was sure the bleeding had ceased, he briskly pulled the barrel away, the burnt skin sticking to the metal for a sickeningly long time before finally being released from it. But that little tug was just enough to pull Keith along with it. He didn’t fight to stay upright at all. His head fell sluggishly into Lance, and after sliding down his shoulder, found a ledge in the nape of Lance’s neck. He didn’t move, but Lance could see his eyes were wide open. There was an obvious golden coloration to the sclera of his eyes, making his tame dark irises pop into a more brilliant violet. His fingers still were intertwined with Lance’s, but his grip was slack now. 

Lance gently found a grip on Keith’s shoulder pad and slowly pushed him back into his seat. He looked... hallow. He wanted so badly to say sorry.


	9. Melt My Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warm fluff melts a frozen heart.

In all honesty Keith didn’t remember everything that happened after that. He was conscious, but he wasn't really present. He remembers the pain —he doesn't think he’ll ever forget that pain—and he remembers Lance. He remembered the expression on his face when he brought the barrel down onto his side. He remembers the tickle of his brown hair on his nose when he fell into him. He remembered what he smelled like; cucumbers and mint. But he didn’t remember everything that happened in between. 

The next thing he knew he was slung over a pair of broad shoulders. The sensation of getting off of his feet was glorious, if it wasn't for the exploding pain from his side flaring up anew. He cried out, and the shoulders tensed, before sliding him down onto his unsteady feet. His lower body shook immediately, and he felt another body pick up his slacking shoulder. 

Cucumbers and mint.

The two people carried him arm-in-arm to what he assumed was the pod chamber. His eyes were open, but only just. The taller of the two slipped their hands under his armpits and as gently as possible, laid him into a pod. Only then did Keith manage to truly see again, if only for a second. 

Sure enough, it was Shiro and Lance. Shiro’s strong brow was twisted into an expression he rarely saw; fear. He stood with his profile to Keith, as he was talking to Coran, and Allura looked back and forth between the two as they took turns talking. Hunk sat behind the three with Pidge by his side; they both were in their pajamas. They all looked exhausted. But Lance was right there. His hand was pressed comfortingly on the blue-tinted glass, the fresh indentations of nail marks on the top of his right palm. When did that happen?

Lance’s mouth quickly flipped from a concentrated frown to a grateful smirk. He nodded at Keith, and almost on cue, the chamber started the cryogen process. The cold burst of air was practically nothing compared to what his day had put him through; it was practically warm. He welcomed the overwhelming sensation of calm that followed it. And he let his heavy lids fall for a well deserved, pain free, rest.

Lance waited in front of the pod for two hours before everyone else had fallen asleep around him. Apparently they had been gone for several vargas longer than expected, and it was around 3:40am to the other paladins. A mix of stubborn adrenaline and worry kept Lance from even thinking about sleep. 

Coran and bandaged his hand, and given him some food goo that apparently treated cold exposure. Oddly specific food goo if you asked Lance. The only difference Lance noted, when he convinced himself to take a bite, was the warm sensation that it sent down his chest as he ate it. An image of his mom popped into his head, followed by a memory of when they fried churros for the first time on his fifth birthday, and he quickly stopped himself. But it was too late. The warm sensation in his chest had turned heavy. 

He looked around at his teammates. God, they almost looked as tired as he felt. Shiro and Hunk laid on the floor across from the pods, back to back, using each other as headboards and for warmth. A foot away from them, Pidge, Coran and Allura were on a pile of thick, fluffy blankets that the mice were generous enough to drag into the pod room. Pidge had her head on Allura’s shoulder, and Allura on Corans. It looked like an adorable bar graph from tallest to shortest. 

He turned back to Keith. He wondered how long he would be in there. They hadn't been able to put him in one of the special pod suits because of the location of the burn, so he was stripped down to his dark gray underarmor. The torn fabric around the burn was still wet with blood, but the blood on his actual skin was crusted and flaking. The burn certainly looked better now than when Lance had inflicted it. It was raised, but not drastically like a fresh burn, more like it was trying to scab over. He couldn't help but wonder if he would blame him for the ugly scar that it would inevitably leave. 

He continued thinking like this for hours, about how much Keith would hate him when he finally got out. It continued until the very moment the red paladin fell from his icy nap.

The pod opened just when Lance’s eyes were finally starting to feel heavy, but his fast reflexes had him catching his cold body as he stumbled forward. This was familiar. Joy overwhelmed him, and before he could stop himself, he brought Keith into a loose hug. The red paladin groaned, but not with pain, more surprise. He pulled away from Lance, which gave him time to look at him. Keith’s eyes were as clear as day, his skin was back to its normal shade of pale, and his fever and wound were definitely better. He just looked tired now.

“Hey there space cadet! You gave us quite a scare there.” Lance spoke low, not wanting to wake the team.

“What happened? I remember a giant kraken thing…” Keith rubbed his eyes.

“Yeah that asshole kinda like stabbed you and I valiantly saved your life. We had a beautiful moment, man.”

“Hm. Don’t remember anything like that.” Keith joked, but in a completely serious voice. 

“You rested your head was on my neck! You were gonna stay there if I hadn't pushed you off!” 

“My memory is still kinda fuzzy.” 

“Are you kidding?! I cradled you in my arms!” Lance nearly screamed. 

Without warning, Keith pulled his arms around Lances neck and pulled him back into a hug, a bit more mutual one this time. 

Cucumber and mint.

“If you say so, Sharpshooter.”


	10. Break the Ice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fighting a robot leads to a welcomed encounter with Lancey-Lance and all his charm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guys its 2:27am. First time writing like kissing stuff so I'm sorry if its cringey :(((

Obviously, once the commotion of Keith’s dramatic return had calmed down and everyone had gotten a long-awaited hug, everyone agreed that Keith and Red should sit out the next one or two missions to recuperate and heal. 

Like he was going to just sit around and wait for his muscles to atrophy. 

So after a quick shower, some fresh clothes and no one around to stop him, Keith snuck his way out of his room and down to the training deck. 

He drew his bayard and tested its weight in his left hand. His whole arm felt heavy, but the wound itself didn’t really hurt per say, more of a stubborn throbbing that he felt resonate all throughout his body, especially when he took deep breaths. It wasn't enough to stop him. 

“Activate Gladiator level 2.” Keith yelled to the ceiling. It was where he’d left off before the mission after all.

The robot dropped to the ground with a hallow mechanical bang, and it stood two feet in front of the Red Paladin. It brought its blade in front of his face, holding it in that defensive position Keith had seen so many times before. He swung his bayard and took the first swing, finding mutual resistance on the robot’s blade. The pressure that it exerted against Keith was manageable, but the feeling of pins and needles quickly engulfed his entire arm. He pushed against the metal fighter and he shuffled back, far less gracefully than he usually did. Beads of sweat welled under his bangs and behind his neck, falling down his body like foreign caresses. Every drop made the hair on his arms stand at attention. He side-stepped towards the thing, taking calculated and controlled jabs at the robot’s exposed joints, but all being met with an equally calculated dodges and blocks. However, Keith was usually MORE calculated and controlled, which would be painfully obvious to anyone who had seen him fight before. The remaining exhaustion of his trauma seemed to catch up with him, as a bolt of discomfort shot its way up his left side. His arm faltered and a jab fell short as his entire limb betrayed him and left him wide open. The robot must’ve seen this mistake and acted on it in milliseconds. It brought its blade down, blunt end first, and shoved it into Keith’s exposed abdomen. The air rushed out of his lungs, he felt something rise in his throat and his head swam in the unexpected blinding pain that exploded from his mid-section. The jab didn’t hit the burn, but the stretch of the skin so close to it made it scream and tear. The searing-hot agony that he felt when Lance cauterized his side seemed to echo in his brain, and he felt frustration rise in his chest; frustration at his sloppiness, at his fucking chaotic thoughts and actions. 

He lunged towards the robot again, clashing blades at a different angle this time. Keith brought his blade down from above vertically, being met horizontally by the gladiator’s. He kicked the hallow of its leg joint and it fell heavily onto it’s knees. Keith arched his elbow and pushed his blade down with it, using the momentum of the fall to move faster than gravity. He sliced through the singular blue eye of the robot, and ripped the blade clean through, completely slicing the robot’s head in half. It’s limp, metal body fell to the ground like a sack of bricks. 

Keith fell to his knees next to it and dropped his bayard, letting it deactivate as it left his clammy grip. He pulled the bottom of his shirt up to wipe his brow, exposing the irritated burn and fast forming bruise to the cool air of the training room. 

“You just can’t sit still for one second huh?” A gentle voice called from behind him. 

He dropped his shirt and whipped around, greeted by a smirking Lance in his normal attire, minus the army-green jacket. 

“Why are you here?” Keith said, not a touch of malice in his voice, just genuine curiosity.

“Well when I asked the team where you were, Coran said you were supposed to be in your room, but they all agreed you’d most likely be here. 

“That’s not why you came, that's how you found me. Why did you come?”

“I…” Lance began, “I just wanted to make sure you could still move with that… with uh-”

“The scar from when you saved my life? Yeah I can move just fine with it, my muscles are just a rusty apparently.”

“You did look a little sloppy Mullet.”

“Oh come on, you know what healing pods do…” Keith stopped himself when he saw where Lance’s eyes were.  
“Are you worried about the scar?”

“Oh-no… I just-”

“Lance you get that you saved my life don't you? If you hadn't done what you did, I wouldn't be here to be experiencing this lovely totally-not-awkward banter we so often find ourselves having.”

Lance laughed, he couldn't help it. But he also couldn't help the tears that prickled the edges of his eyes. For some reason, he really believed that Keith would hate him. He truly believed that he would see him and yell and scream about the new addition to the plethora of marks on his small-ish frame. 

“Woah woah woah, I’m saying thank you! Look it doesn't even hurt!” Keith pulled up his shirt again, exposing his entire chest and the familiar burn. Lance’s wet eyes went right to it, and to the fresh bruise that was dangerously close to it. 

Before he knew what he was doing, his hand was on it, gently sliding his palm over the warm skin. Keith’s body jolted, but not out of his reach, and after a second he was practically leaning into Lance’s hand. Lance didn’t seem perturbed at all, he was too busy studying the mark. He’d never felt anything like the hard skin that pushed back against his finger tips, and he was fascinated to say the least. 

Heat rose to Keith’s cheeks and Lance’s head leaned closer and closer to his chest, intensely studying the burn. He felt Lance’s warm breath tickle the skin around the burn, and goosebumps rose all over his body. He couldn't take this much longer. 

He grabbed Lance’s head and yanked it back up to eye level in a panic, and their noses practically skimmed each other. Both of their breaths hit the other’s flustered faces. Something must’ve possessed Keith because the rush of raw emotion that enveloped him was not like him at all. He slipped his hands into Lance’s hair and pulled him forward, stopping briefly to give Lance a moment to pull away if he wanted, before pressing his lips against the blue paladin’s.

Cucumber and mint.

It wasn't really a good kiss, in fact Keith recalls knocking teeth with Lance, but both melted into each other like it was meant to happen at all costs. Lance’s hands slid around Keith and pulled him closer, their chests meeting just after Lance managed to get Keith’s shirt off the rest of the way. Keith had been trying to do the same to Lance when a voice over their comms jolted them both back to reality. Neither of them heard what was said though. 

When they both pulled away to finally take a breath, Lance looked like he’d just stepped off a rollercoaster. His mouth was twisted devilishly upwards, and his hair was ruffled messily, and his shift was half up his torso. Keith mirrored him, only his shirt was across the floor. 

“Holy Quiznak… I should save your life more often.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to thank everyone who left a comment and a kudos on this fic - I couldn't have asked for a better welcome to ao3 - so thank you all and check back soon! I'm planning on putting my boys through more hell soon :3
> 
> EDIT: Music that makes me think of this fic:  
> Ocean Eyes by Billie Eilish  
> Stay with Me by Christina Grimmie & Diamond Eyes  
> House of Memories by Panic! at the Disco  
> All Falls Down by Alan Walker


	11. (Comic :3)

Hey long time no see lovelies! I have drawn up a quick comic of a dramatic part of this story :3 hope you enjoy 

 

[Comic Part 1!](https://www.flickr.com/photos/146069980@N06/46542241641/in/dateposted-public/)

[Comic Part 2](https://www.flickr.com/photos/146069980@N06/46542242871/in/dateposted-public/)

[Comic Part 3](https://www.flickr.com/photos/146069980@N06/46542243031/in/dateposted-public/)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so so so so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed!

**Author's Note:**

> Hey this is my first fic so I'm sorry if its awful :#


End file.
